The Company You Keep (2012)

A former Weather Underground activist goes on the run from a journalist who has discovered his identity.

Director:

Robert Redford

Writers:

Lem Dobbs (screenplay), Neil Gordon (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Redford	...	Jim Grant / Nick Sloan
Shia LaBeouf	...	Ben Shepard
Julie Christie	...	Mimi Lurie
Susan Sarandon	...	Sharon Solarz
Nick Nolte	...	Donal Fitzgerald
Chris Cooper	...	Daniel Sloan
Terrence Howard	...	FBI Agent Cornelius
Stanley Tucci	...	Ray Fuller
Richard Jenkins	...	Jed Lewis
Anna Kendrick	...	Diana
Brendan Gleeson	...	Henry Osborne
Brit Marling	...	Rebecca Osborne
Sam Elliott	...	Mac McLeod
Stephen Root	...	Billy Cusimano
Jackie Evancho	...	Isabel Grant (as Jacqueline Evancho)

Storyline

A former Weather Underground activist goes on the run from a journalist who has discovered his identity.

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel

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Taglines:

You can't escape the past

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Genres:

Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 2012 (Italy)

Also Known As:

A hallgatás szabálya

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$131,718 (USA) (5 April 2013)

Gross:

$4,130,751 (USA) (10 May 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Voltage Pictures, Wildwood Enterprises, Brightlight Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min 125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of 2013, the cast includes four actors (Robert Redford, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper and Julie Christie) who have won Academy Awards and five others (Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Nick Nolte, Terrence Howard and 'Stanley Tucci') who have been nominated for Academy Awards.

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Goofs

When Ben and Rebecca are walking together after they got their coffee, they are holding their cups like there is nothing in them and that they are not hot.

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Quotes

Ben Shepard: Thank you for talking to me.
Sharon Solarz: Thank you for listening.

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Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Trance (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Traitors Gate"
Performed by Billy Nomates
Written by Tristan Lambeth and Bob Farrell

User Reviews

A competent political thriller with a few quiet things to say.

"When we revolt it's not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe." Frantz Fanon

In Robert Redford's The Company You keep, Jim Grant (Redford) is an attorney on the lam for participating in Weather Underground anti-Vietnam activities over 40 years ago. That a bank robbery resulted in the death of a guard has made the revolutionaries fugitives from murder charges.

This political thriller, in which the FBI has finally zeroed in on the robbers because Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) has decided to turn herself in, devolves into a formulaic chase with helicopters and frantic cell calls, but along the way has some engaging dialogue ("Yeah we all died. Some of us just came back." Donal Fitzgerald, played by Nick Nolte) often given in the repartee style of screwball comedy without the comedy.

I am most surprised at director Redford's political restraint, given his inclination to preach baldly in previous films and in his personal life. The Company You Keep smoothly combines the pacing of a race for survival with the consciousness of a moderate liberal trying to show the unglamorous effects of sins, like excessive ambition and murder, over a lifetime. In its favor the film does not overdo its sympathy for the kids of these radicals, although Brit Marling as Rebecca Osborne would make anyone cry over her, so innocent-looking she is.

While the film tends to emphasize the personal effects on lovers and families to the exclusion of the Weatherman history, it still is instructive about the radical movements decades ago. Although the theme of the ramifications of keeping a secret are parsed by Grant in a too-contrived monologue, the point is well taken, for each secret revealed adds another layer of punishment for all, even children.

If Redford weren't so wrapped up in nostalgia and stuck to the hard-core reasons for some very bright people's stupidity, this could have been a soaring achievement of documenting history in dramatic form. As it is, it's a smart thriller that has some lessons, both political and personal, for all the audience.